Metallic device implantation is widely used in the medical field to manage a variety of acute traumatic and chronic arthritic medical conditions, such as arthroplasty for osteoarthritis, fixation for fracture repair and joint replacement following neoplasm resection. Assessing bone and soft tissue in the vicinity of implanted orthopedic devices is vital for identification of complications related to the implants themselves, such as adverse local tissue reactions often found near total hip replacements. In addition, assessment of regions near implanted devices allows for pain evaluation following instrumentation. Such assessment may reflect a diverse set of conditions, including infection, osteonecrosis and recurrent tumor.
Increasing rates of primary and revised joint replacements together with the medical complications associated with implanted orthopedic devices call for accurate and reliable diagnostic imaging in the presence of orthopedic implants. It is projected that by 2030 clinicians will perform nearly 500,000 hip replacements and 3.5 million knee replacements in the United States alone. These projections also predict that nearly 100,000 hip revisions and more than 250,000 knee revision procedures will occur annually in the United States by 2030.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) soft-tissue contrast can add substantial diagnostic value when assessing the tissue envelope around metallic implants. For example, the United States Food and Drug Association (FDA) issued a recommendation for using MRI in imaging assessments of recently recalled total hip replacements. However, magnetic susceptibility artifacts generated by implants have historically limited MRI's practical clinical application in assessments of instrumented joints. Several years ago, Three-Dimensional Multi—Spectral Imaging (3D-MSI) technology was developed by the MRI research community including inventors of this disclosure—to reduce susceptibility artifacts due to implanted devices.
The details of various embodiments of the methods and systems are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below.